Trains have been an integral part of my life ever since i was a lad of 5. With us being in Shillong and relatives being in AP, and flying not being an option, all vacations included a nice long trip down the coast. Ever since then, it has been more of a regular feature, but when you are a regular train tripper, you can easily categorize people into certain groups, something I've been ydoing a lot recently.
First of all you have the mid 20s working guy who always travels alone and predominantly occupies the upper berth. His only function during the whole journey is to show the tc the ticket, other than that he'll be busy with his phone/laptop all the time. Like, he comes, he sits for a while and then he goes to the top and you never see him again until his destination comes.
Then you have your business uncles. These are the guys who are middle aged, round bellied and absolute non givers of fucks about other people's comfort. You can identify them from their t shirt and 3/4th combo, an iPhone and a deep voice. And god help you if they find a peer group because they just won't fucking stop preaching about the most generic stuff ever. And if you have the misfortune of being caught in the triad, you'll have to listen to their sagely advices and their life stories which is probably bullshit.
Then you have the old couple who are divided into two sub groups: one will be the sweetest people on earth and the others would be pompous pricks.
The sweet ones will be very friendly, offer you food, will play the games you play and be all jolly
The pricks will give you nightmares. Shut off the light they say. Don't make too much noise they say. Disapproving stares. Snide comments about how the generation is degrading and basically make a lot of fuss about themselves than they are worth.
You have your proper businessman, who looks and sounds every bit of the smart son of a bitch he is and time spent with them is actually worth something, unlike the uncles.. They give you tips for almost everything without sounding too grownupish and let you play with their phones and gadgets without being too fussy 😛
Then you have women who are traveling alone, they are primarily middle age, married and usually keep to themselves, but with kids around they too are divided into sub groups: ones who will play with them and generally lighten up the atmosphere and the others who simply don't give a shit and go about doing their business..
Occasionally you'll have a young, mid 20s chick travelling alone, but sadly she'll be way to busy kinda like the mid 20s guy, mostly with phone so the chance of you getting lucky are non existent..
Then you have families and couples.
Couples would be the newlyweds or a couple with/travelling without kids. The newlyweds don't usually pay much attention to what's happening around so they don't feature much during the journey but when they do interact it is another great experience, learning their story and what follows.
Coming to families, which, though possibly the most diverse group among all, could be sorted out pretty easily. The criteria i choose is kids. Kids are the stars of the show of your journey, but stars can be like Shahrukh or like Tushar Kapoor. First type of them are hilarious, crazy and full of mischief but usually don't cause unnecessary ruckus, the others, well can rape your happiness. They are ANNOYING. They'll keep screaming, fighting, throwing stuff around, and being a nuisance to everyone around, but we forgive them because in the end they're just kids.
Then you have the brats who are so pompous and who think trains are beneath them who you just want to punch in the fucking face. They will keep complaining about everything, being used to getting their way, and will whine and whine and whine till your head explodes. They are the ones who generally are the most annoying gatecrashers to what was promising to be a great party.
And lastly you have people like me, for whom every journey is a new experience and feels like the first one, who is still fascinated by every single aspect of it, from the pathetic toilets to the hot girl you saw at the station, who enjoy the journey for what it's worth and who fall into almost every single of the abovementioned categories, and who are jobless enough to make these observations.
I'd still look forward to a train trip even today even if would end up breaking my leg in the unreserved compartment because in the end, it'll make an awesome story, one that'll stay with me for life 😁
First of all you have the mid 20s working guy who always travels alone and predominantly occupies the upper berth. His only function during the whole journey is to show the tc the ticket, other than that he'll be busy with his phone/laptop all the time. Like, he comes, he sits for a while and then he goes to the top and you never see him again until his destination comes.
Then you have your business uncles. These are the guys who are middle aged, round bellied and absolute non givers of fucks about other people's comfort. You can identify them from their t shirt and 3/4th combo, an iPhone and a deep voice. And god help you if they find a peer group because they just won't fucking stop preaching about the most generic stuff ever. And if you have the misfortune of being caught in the triad, you'll have to listen to their sagely advices and their life stories which is probably bullshit.
Then you have the old couple who are divided into two sub groups: one will be the sweetest people on earth and the others would be pompous pricks.
The sweet ones will be very friendly, offer you food, will play the games you play and be all jolly
The pricks will give you nightmares. Shut off the light they say. Don't make too much noise they say. Disapproving stares. Snide comments about how the generation is degrading and basically make a lot of fuss about themselves than they are worth.
You have your proper businessman, who looks and sounds every bit of the smart son of a bitch he is and time spent with them is actually worth something, unlike the uncles.. They give you tips for almost everything without sounding too grownupish and let you play with their phones and gadgets without being too fussy 😛
Then you have women who are traveling alone, they are primarily middle age, married and usually keep to themselves, but with kids around they too are divided into sub groups: ones who will play with them and generally lighten up the atmosphere and the others who simply don't give a shit and go about doing their business..
Occasionally you'll have a young, mid 20s chick travelling alone, but sadly she'll be way to busy kinda like the mid 20s guy, mostly with phone so the chance of you getting lucky are non existent..
Then you have families and couples.
Couples would be the newlyweds or a couple with/travelling without kids. The newlyweds don't usually pay much attention to what's happening around so they don't feature much during the journey but when they do interact it is another great experience, learning their story and what follows.
Coming to families, which, though possibly the most diverse group among all, could be sorted out pretty easily. The criteria i choose is kids. Kids are the stars of the show of your journey, but stars can be like Shahrukh or like Tushar Kapoor. First type of them are hilarious, crazy and full of mischief but usually don't cause unnecessary ruckus, the others, well can rape your happiness. They are ANNOYING. They'll keep screaming, fighting, throwing stuff around, and being a nuisance to everyone around, but we forgive them because in the end they're just kids.
Then you have the brats who are so pompous and who think trains are beneath them who you just want to punch in the fucking face. They will keep complaining about everything, being used to getting their way, and will whine and whine and whine till your head explodes. They are the ones who generally are the most annoying gatecrashers to what was promising to be a great party.
And lastly you have people like me, for whom every journey is a new experience and feels like the first one, who is still fascinated by every single aspect of it, from the pathetic toilets to the hot girl you saw at the station, who enjoy the journey for what it's worth and who fall into almost every single of the abovementioned categories, and who are jobless enough to make these observations.
I'd still look forward to a train trip even today even if would end up breaking my leg in the unreserved compartment because in the end, it'll make an awesome story, one that'll stay with me for life 😁
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